The ceremony began at
10:00 a.m. in the chapel of the Center for Higher
Studies in Rome. Along with the Legionary communities in Rome
and family members, friends, and various ecclesiastics and religious, the
ceremony was attended by Fr Alvaro Corcuera, LC, Fr Óscar
Náder, LC, territorial director for Italy, and the formators who
accompanies the new deacons in their final years of formation.

Bishop
Bertello began his homily by reminding the 42 ordinands that
“you are already consecrated to the Lord since the day
you consecrated your life in the Legion of Christ. But
today the Church calls you so that this first degree
of the ministry will be something more than service.” Referring
to the first reading (Is. 61:9-11), he emphasized that they
should be “full of enthusiasm to offer the service of
the diaconate, which means joyfully putting oneself at the Lord’s
service.”

Commenting on the Gospel passage (Lk. 2:14-51), specifically on
the question Mary asks Jesus (“Why have you done this
to us?”), the nuncio invited the religious to “think about
the difficulties you had to overcome. Perhaps at the beginning
your vocation was not understood […] but you understood that
the Lord was calling you. Jesus’ dialogue with Mary reminds
us of that identity, a deep self-awareness: your particular contribution
is that you said “present.” Saying that you want to
leave your whole life at the service of the Church
means renewing what you have already done with the profession
of vows: it means being always and only God’s.”

Finally,

Fr Alvaro Corcuera, LC, helps place the vestments on Fr Tamás Fejéregyházi, the first Hungarian Legionary to be ordained.

Bishop Bertello said, “If we do not nourish the Lord’s
presence, our link with God wears thin. That is why
we must always fill our hearts with Christ because we
want to proclaim the mystery of salvation to mankind.”

The 42
new deacons come from 7 different countries. There are 15
Mexicans, 14 Americans, 5 Brazilians, 4 Colombians, 2 Italians, 1
Spaniard, and 1 Hungarian. Among them, there are two pairs
of brothers (Juan Pablo and Andrés Botero, from Colombia, and
Jason and Michael Mitchell, from the United States). The first
Hungarian Legionary to be ordained was also part of the
group.

The priestly ordination of the deacons is planned for December
12, 2011, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in
Rome. We invite our readers to keep these men in
prayer as they prepare to become new priests who will
carry the sacraments to souls throughout the world.